An unfair pay impasse

Updated 11:41 pm, Sunday, April 28, 2013

THE ISSUE:

Thousands of state workers have gone years without raises, mainly because the Legislature hasn't gotten one either.

THE STAKES:

Are lawmakers really that petty?

More than 10,000 state employees are unfairly caught in the middle of a debate that is not about them. The corps of management-confidential workers shouldn't have their livelihoods stagnate while legislators continue to hold as many hostages as they can in hope of getting an undeserved raise for themselves.

The MCs, as they're called, have had no raises since 2008, largely because of a logjam created by a self-imposed freeze on the Legislature's pay — which really is an entirely separate issue. Unfortunately, it's all gotten mashed together, like a poorly led marching band whose inept drum major took a bad turn down an alley, hit a wall, and let everyone in the parade pile up behind him.

The problem starts with a provision in the state constitution that requires the pay of lawmakers to be set by law. That means the governor must agree. The governor's pay is also set by the Legislature, as is compensation for various other public officers, including the commissioners who run state agencies.

At the other end are unionized state employees, who negotiate pay in their contracts.

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In the middle are the MCs — supervisors and administrative assistants who serve in sensitive positions. They are non-unionized and dependent on — one might say at the mercy of — the Legislature and governor for any increase in pay.

The Legislature hasn't given itself a raise since 1999, and for good reason: Until recently it was considered the most dysfunctional in the nation, and a string of indictments and convictions makes a good case that it's now the most crooked. Voters simply won't stand for paying legislators more. Lawmakers have historically tied their pay level to raises for the governor and other key public officials, so none of them have gotten increases, either.

And why are the MCs caught up in this? If they got raises, the argument goes, their compensation might surpass that of people they work for — commissioners and other people in the state hierarchy. To halt the domino effect, and to deal with the state's ongoing fiscal challenges, the state has mostly frozen the pay for MCs since 2008, other than longevity and step increases for some. This has created two classes of employees — those who get raises, and those who don't. It's no way to run a government.

Something has to give here. Some suggest creating a new state pay commission that bypasses the Legislature, like the one the state created on judicial pay in 2011, when legislators finally recognized that holding up judges' pay for more than a decade was harming the judiciary.

That shouldn't be necessary. What New York needs is for the Legislature to do its job, starting by recognizing this: The pay for workers whose full-time job running government is one issue, and lawmakers' compensation is another. The two shouldn't be linked.

The $79,500 base pay for legislators' part-time work — higher that what the average full-time New York worker makes — is adequate. Between the corruption in their ranks, the gerrymandering of districts that all but ensure their re-election, and a stalled to-do list that includes fixing an inherently corrupt election system, there are plenty of reasons why legislators shouldn't even dream of a raise. Petulantly denying everyone else fair consideration for one in the meantime is hardly helping their case.